


Safety in Unwanted Things

by stuttermoan (silkblade)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, M/M, Poetry, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Wizarding Wars
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-06
Updated: 2015-11-06
Packaged: 2018-04-30 07:42:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5155748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silkblade/pseuds/stuttermoan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The world knows only who they aren't. Originally published on August 9, 2006.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Safety in Unwanted Things

I.  
Standing behind the bigger boy, even  
His shadow is second-hand:  
A flat, grey ghost under a  
Tantrum thundercloud.  
The folds in his overlarge clothes make him look  
Like he is shrinking.  
He watches presents emerge from bright paper  
And anticipates the day they are broken or forgotten;  
There is safety in unwanted things.  
  
II.  
Tears are more over than they've ever been;  
The war had dissolved into a slumped sigh,  
Mumbling a prayer of thanks to him  
(With few words for the dead or ruined).  
And now the world is arranged on his table  
In bright paper, waiting for his hands,  
And he takes what he never could.  
He takes and takes  
Of food, and things, and sights,  
And company, especially  
But he can't stand their faces  
Admiring his triumph in false faith  
That he can never be broken.  
Just shake me, he thinks.  
My skin is bright paper  
But inside, I'm pieces.  
  
III.  
He finds the man in a pile of dust-colored shadows  
Drinking fiercely, scolding himself to the silence.  
He can't explain his presence, or his purpose  
Other than to say _I've found you_ ,  
But somehow, that's enough.  
He doesn't have to mention how the world  
Knows only who they aren't.  
He takes the man, and his books,  
And tucks them gently  
In the safest shelf of his life.  
He sees the man's valor;  
The man has trust in his frailty  
And their broken edges fit.  
There is safety in unwanted things.


End file.
